It’s been a year, to say the least.
We’ve all gone through a lot of change personally and professionally speaking, as we grapple with the state of the world and the global pandemic that shuttered our office buildings, non-essential businesses, and schools - and forced most or many of us to our homes. Organizations had to quickly shift business processes from on-site, local management for most to fully remote set ups for a large part, if not all, of their employee base.
Who are you going to rely on to make that shift happen fast? You guessed it - your trusty sysadmin.
Given what we’ve all had to accomplish this year to adjust to our new working conditions, having a reliable resource to support your IT needs has never been more obvious and most important to keeping your organizational data secure.
Here are eight reasons why you should especially celebrate your sysadmin this coming Friday, July 31, on 2020 SysAdmin Appreciation Day.
#1: Your sysadmin put the “mobile” in “mobile workforce.”
In the span of a week, your entire company was working from home -- just like that. Your sysadmin had to make sure your company had enough VPN licenses to support remote access for more people than they had ever planned for, and also onboard newly remote employees on how to get the VPN working.
#2: Your sysadmin is now supporting your remote systems from their own remote offices.
Like you lost the luxury of an actual office space, your sysadmin also lost the luxury of having the equipment and agility they required to effectively provide IT support like they were used to. They are now having to remote access into your remote devices.
#3: Available laptops and parts were the “toilet paper” of computer inventory.
Sysadmins have had to do whatever is necessary to get laptops and parts to enable and support remote teams at a time when everyone else was buying any laptop they could find as well. Plus, they have had to purchase and support a lot of new hardware and software to better support your working from home.
#4: Your home Wi-Fi is now corporate Wi-Fi.
As you can imagine, we’re not all running enterprise-ready Wi-Fi networks at home. Your sysadmin has had to deal with providing troubleshooting and support for a broad spectrum of home Wi-Fi networks - ensuring you are able to stay productive and keep the company data secure.
#5: They had to build a Wi-Fi network for those without internet access.
Considering all schools had to shift quickly to online learning, sysadmins for school districts had to ensure equitable experiences for all school-age kids. For students with no internet access, IT admins had to give out mifi hotspots and, in some cases, park Wi-Fi enabled buses in strategic locations.
#6: Lots and lots of overtime to make it happen fast.
Enough said. Your sysadmins did a lot in little time.
#7: Endpoint security now relies on a “perimeter of one” versus the corporate perimeter.
With most endpoints now outside the corporate firewalls, they effectively became their own “corporate perimeter.” Meaning sysadmins need to not only make sure these devices are patched and updated regularly, but also that employees are well-versed in how to keep corporate data secure when working from home -- particularly at a time of unprecedented cyber threats towards remote employees.
#8: Have a mask, forced to travel.
When others could safely work from home, some sysadmins may have had to throw risk aside to come into the office to better support their teams and keep the corporate security intact - much like other frontline employees. We could quietly go crazy quarantined in the safety of our own homes, while they had to risk getting to and from work during a time when so much was unknown about the spread of COVID-19.
We all deserve a little appreciation for what we’ve had to adjust to over the last months. But, take a minute this Friday to recognize your IT support on SysAdmin Appreciation Day.
Are you a sysadmin looking to celebrate your day? Join us for a fun happy hour and trivia event on Friday, July 31. Come hang out with our host Nicholas Tolstoshev, Automox’s Community Manager, for a chance to win some cool swag and prizes. We hope to see you there!
About Automox Automated Patch Management
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